Three members of a family belonging to the Schedule Caste (SC), were allegedly hacked to death by unidentified armed assailants at their cattle house in Mandhothi village located in Bahadurgarh subdivision, here on the Sunday night.

The deceased have been identified as Sonu (20), his cousin Narender (16) and nephew Manjeet (12).

The Bahadurgarh police has started investigation after the registration of a case of murder against unidentified killers on the complaint of Sonu's brother Rinku in this regard.

Sonu was a conductor with a private bus while Narender and Manjeet were students.

The reason behind the killings is yet be ascertained.

Though there is an ongoing war between two gangs of the village, the police has denied any connection of the incident with the gang war.

Alok Mittal, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) of Rohtak range, told The Tribune that the incident, which occurred between 1 am to 2 am, came to light when Sonu's father Randhir woke up to answer nature's call around 2 am.

"He spotted a man jumping over the fence of their cattle house located near their home. Sensing something untoward, he rushed to the cattle house and found Sonu, Narender and Manjeet lying in a pool of blood on two charpais there," said the IGP.

Randhir immediately called his family members to the spot and they rushed them to the PGIMS, Rohtak, where all the three reportedly succumbed to their injuries after some time.

The bodies bore injury marks on the heads and private parts, indicating that they might have been inflicted by some sharp-edged weapons.

A team of forensic experts visited the scene of the crime and collected some blood samples, said Mittal.

The IGP maintained that the trio used to sleep at the cattle house everyday after dinner.

Ahmedabad: Justice JC Upadhyay of Gujarat high court, on Monday, sought an explanation from the SC/ST cell of the city police as to why they had taken such a long time to take action in the case lodged against Gujarat University vice-chancellor Parimal Trivedi. The police have been asked to file a reply before April 3.

The court issued the direction on a petition filed by GLS college lecturer Pankaj Shrimali, who had registered a complaint against Trivedi on May 3, 2008 under the Atrocities Act at Gujarat University police station. When the police did not expedite the probe in the case, Shrimali approached the high court and raised the issue of police inaction in the case.

Following high court's strict remarks, the police recently arrested Trivedi and filed a charge sheet against him in the case. But then Shrimali sought action against the police for not concluding the probe within 30 days as stipulated in the Atrocities Act.

"The police have violated the court order and law by not completing the investigation within 30 days. The police took 1,370 days to take action against Parimal Trivedi. Therefore, I submitted before the court that penalty should be imposed on them for their lethargic approach in probing the case," told Shrimali.

Members of various Dalit association attempted to lock the office of the Social Welfare as part of their protest in the City on Monday.

The protesters alleged that the government and the district administration has neglected the development work in the district.

Tension prevailed on the premises for a while. When the protest was intensified, the police had to take control of the situation.

Police action

The police tried to prevent the protesters from locking the office, following which the members of the association blocked the roads for more than two hours which resulted in an extreme chaos.

The commuters fell prey to the situation as the chaos resulted in traffic congestion, as the protesters refused to compromise on the means of the protest.

Due to this, there was heavy police patrolling in an around the office.

Background

The City police tightened the security on the premises of Social Welfare Office onSunday acting on the information that the District Vigilance Committee Dalit Sangharsha Samithi, Dalit Women's Union, Dalit Student's Union and other associations are going to take out a protest. Barricades were also erected.

On Monday,additional number of police personnel were deployed to tackle the protesters who arrived at the spot beating drums as part of their protest. After half an hour, they tried to barge into the office, after which the police personnels took charge of the situation.

Activists of the Dalit Sangharsh Samithi, K C Rajakantha and Venkatesh put forward their demands and complaints. There was a tiff between the police and the protesters.

The protesters were heard shouting slogans:"Unless the doors of the office are locked, we will not withdraw the protest. The tainted officers should be transferred at the earliest."

Traffic diversion

The police officials diverted the traffic to avoid congestion and urged the protesters to withdraw the protest. When the protesters failed to concede to the police orders, the matter was taken to the senior officers of the district administration.

The protest was withdrawn after the Zilla Panchayat CEO B SShekharappa arrived at the spot and accepted the memorandum.

The dalit organisations' leaders, on Monday, alleged that the State Government completely ignored the welfare of dalits and their development.

'Not sincere'

The allocations made in the budget and expenditure incurred in last six years proved beyond the doubt that the government was not sincere in its promises made to the dalits. It was unfortunate that the dalits were forced to take up agitations at State level even for trivial issues.

The dalit organisations have been demanding the government to provide Cabinet rank to head of the SC,ST Commission, and appoint a retired or sitting High Court judge; the allocations for special component plan (ST Sub Plan) need to be made based on the population.

The government was also asked to ensure that the funds were not diverted to other sectors or fields, they said, adding, there was no response from the government.

Though statues of Ambedkar were being desecrated, the government did not respond in way it ought to do so. The dalit organisations have decided to organise Chalo Assembly to mount pressure on the government to address the problems and demands of dalits, they said.

KVPS city secretary G. Nataraju, city president P. Koteswara Rao, Dravida Stata State president P. Ratna Raju and others spoke.

IBN Live

BU registrar seeks unclaimed funds for UGC

BANGALORE: With top Bangalore University officials engaged in confrontation students are the victims. With the financial year coming to an end on March 31, the warring officials are now busy preparing a proposal to the University Grants Commission (UGC) to avail 'unutilised' funds earmarked for Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe and Other Backward Class (SC/ST and OBC) students.

In February, BU Registrar (Administration), B C Mylarappa had visited the UGC headquarters in New Delhi, where he learnt that as per UGC provisions, all the universities are entitled to `28,000 crore funds. "It is evident that lack of interest among the officials is the reason. UGC officials scorned at the fact that BU failed to send a proposal to claim the funds. A fresh proposal for the SC/ST and OBC funds is almost ready," said Mylarappa.

He said he would soon take the `12-crore proposal to New Delhi. "If BU gets this fund, it will be invested to improve hostel infrastructure, and provide laptops to research students and allot stipend for thesis students," said Mylarappa.

VC Begs to Differ

When Express contacted Vice-Chancellor Dr N Prabhu Dev on why BU had not claimed the funds, he had a different take. "There are funds earmarked for all universities in a bid to increase the gross enrolment ratio and to provide scholarships to students under the new Scholars in Residence Scheme. To say that `28, 000 crore has been earmarked for this out of the total `46,000 crore higher education budget is a long stretch of imagination," he said.

He further blamed bad maintenance of records at the University for the funds to remain unutilised.

"Some officials do not maintain records. When utilisation certificates are not given, how can we get more funds? Such mistakes must be addressed," said Prabhu Dev.

It was a shadow of its past editions as it has become a ritual The 18 edition of the Dalit Cultural Festival 2012 held here at the United Christian School Grounds on Saturday was just a shadow of its past editions as the festival which was widely seen as an effort to culturally devalorize the codes of dominant cultural discourses became more of a ritual.

Dalit activists and thinkers who were present at the venue and who had been part of the festival since its inception feel that the political vigour that was associated with the festival is waning during the recent years.

Dalit arts and performances along with Dalit literature in the early 1990s were found to be an important ingredient in the 'Dalit Renaissance' that formed the Post-Ambedkar Centenary where Dalit parties started to flourish questioning the Dravidian parties 'inclusive politics myth' and questioned their own marginality vis-à-vis on the political sphere.

The usual zest attached to the festival where various art forms and musical expressions would interlace a pattern where a touch of antiquity, anger and assertion used to flow and throw into confusion the existing hierarchical modes of cultural representations were palpably missing.

Still the festival saw hard-hitting drum beats and powerful echoes of brass horns intertwined with tireless beating of Parai enthral the audience who were also found to be less in numbers than the previous editions.

A Dalit scholar, who is doing his PhD in Philosophy in Madurai Kamaraj University said that, the working class art forms along with Marxist literature had been a critical source towards the emancipation of the working classes; likewise Dalit art forms were critical in bringing social changes and this festival which had been an influential one in the Dalit discourse is losing track.

The Dalit Kalai Vizha, which was seen as an effort to explore trends of conscientisation, politicization and re-interpretation of a culture aiming for a role reversal from a theoretical perspective is losing momentum. The festival which was usually held throughout the night till the next day at the grounds had to be shifted for the first time indoors after 11 p.m. following pressure from the police department.

The performative activities such as dance, martial arts skills display and theatrical productions and reading poetry formed the Dalit Kalai Vizha. A reverential reference to Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and his ideas and the importance of Dalit unity was made through various forms including lyrical rendition, dance performance, poetry reading and drama.

The songs sung and short skits performed there did send a strong message where it basically depicted the outcome of the everyday life struggles, about the work and the status of the oppressed in the society. The folk performances included indigenous Dalit forms of Tamil art like Parai Aatam, Kombu Isai, Periya Melam, Jimbla Melam, Raja Rani Aattam, Jikkattam, Kaliyalattam, Karagattam, Kaavadiattam, Naiyandi Melam, Mayilattam, Oyilattam, Bhappatiattam, Sakkai Kuchi aatam, Maatukombattam, Themmangu, Kummanguthu Aattam Magudiaatam and Suliyalaatam which were performed by troupes from all over the State.

Awards were given to journalist Jeyarani and Sherin who run a non governmental organization called Velicham for the marginalized children. The event was organised by Dalit Resource Centre, Madurai. A book titled Dalit Cartoons: A Journey towards Liberation was also released on the occasion.

-- .Arun KhoteOn behalf ofDalits Media Watch Team(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")...................................................................Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC.